Scorsese Wants Pacino & De Niro For Sinatra Biopic

Martin Scorsese’s Shutter Islandis opening in India (finally), so the acclaimed director has been overseas doing the obligatory promotion and press tour.

The Indian paper The Hindu took the opportunity to question Scorsese about some of his upcoming projects, including the long-gestating Frank Sinatra biopic that we’ve been keeping tabs on for months now.

Scorsese has already made it known that capturing the life of Frank Sinatra on film is a tricky thing. The legendary singer had an…eventful time on Earth: He was born to Italian immigrant parents in Hoboken, New Jersey in the early 1900s; his mother ran an illegal abortion business that got her arrested multiple times; while Frank himself was arrested at an early age for sleeping with a married woman (a crime back then). And this is all BEFORE his epic music career even started.

In order to capture the essence of Frank Sinatra in full, Scorsese has expressed a desire to make a non-traditional biopic, which would jump back and forth in time across Sinatra’s life, with his music providing the narrative through-line which ties everything together. Admittedly it’s a very interesting idea (especially with Scorsese at the helm), but one that would require several actors portraying Sinatra at different ages. Many names have been tossed out for the Sinatra role (Leo DiCaprio and Johnny Depp being two of them), however Scorsese already has ideas about who would play the older version of Frank.

As Scorsese told The Hindu about his Sinatra biopic:

“I’ve had it in mind for a long time. Even the initial script is ready. I’m yet to spot the actor who can bring back Frank Sinatra alive on screen. My choice is Al Pacino, and Robert De Niro as Dean Martin.”

De Niro and Pacino teaming up to play two Rat Pack legends – who WOULDN’T love that? It certainly would be a better De Niro/Pacino team up than Righteous Kill ever was. In fact, a scene of Pacino and De Niro sitting down to chat as old Sinatra and Martin would be very much in line with the now-classic scene they shared in Michael Mann’s Heat. I will gladly champion any film that could potienally deliver something so iconic and epic. Let’s hope it happens.

De Niro and Pacino in Righteous Kill

What about you – do you think Scorsese’s time-hopping approach to a Sinatra biopic is the way to go? And does the thought of De Niro and Pacino once again sharing the screen (even for a little bit) as Sinatra and Martin give you goosebumps? Or do you question whether or not Pacino in particular is a good fit to play Frank? (I’m sure you wouldn’t be the only one.)

We’ll let you know more about Scorsese’s Frank Sinatra biopic as it (slowly but surely) unfolds.